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TIL a boot-scraper, door scraper, or decrottoir is a device consisting of a metal blade, simple or elaborate, permanently attached to the wall or to the sidewalk at the entrance to a building to allow visitors to scrape snow, mud, leaves, or manure off the soles of their shoes before entering

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OjmL TIL the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians novel is very much like the movies. But it has a sequel about an alien dog coming to earth and putting all the humans to sleep so as to prevent nuclear holocaust.
OYXe TIL the U.S. is the only country that does not dip its flag to the host country at the Olympics opening ceremonies. When the U.S. flag-holder was asked to do so for King Edward VII at the 1908 London games, he supposedly responded, “This flag dips to no earthly king.”
PYAwZ TIL that, in 1874, a bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives to pay Harriet Tubman $2,000 for services she provided the Union Army during the American Civil War as a scout, nurse and spy, but it got defeated in the Senate
kAm1 TIL that broccoli is ‘man-made’ through the breeding of different cabbage crops.
k8mB TIL Lady Astor, the first female British MP, was constantly at odds with British PM Winston Churchill. During a debate, she declared that if married to him, she’d have poisoned his tea. Churchill responded ‘Madam, if I was your husband, I would drink it.’